Cole's Return
by bea0001
Summary: When a demon attacks the Halliwell sisters and Piper's daughter, Melinda, he tricks Phoebe into resurrecting someone who they thought they would never see again. Is Cole back for good or is there still a demon lurking somewhere inside of him?


"Duck!" Piper cried, throwing up her hands to blow up the demon who was standing behind Phoebe. Phoebe hit the deck but the demon shimmered out of the way before Piper's magic reached him. "Damn," Phoebe said, standing up again. "You missed him. He was only like two feet away from you Piper!"

Melinda giggled as Piper retorted, "I didn't exactly see you kicking any demon butt!" Phoebe started to reply but her eyes grew wide with fear. Piper didn't turn around to look she just ducked. An energy ball flew over her head. "Here, catch!" the demon said, throwing something at Phoebe. She couldn't help it, she automatically reached out her hands and caught the small round crystal. It fitted into the palm of her hand and was glowing a bright red colour.

"Phoebe are you nuts?" Melinda shouted, running towards the demon. He shimmered away and Melinda stopped moving. "Put it down!" But it was too late. Phoebe could feel the crystal reaching inside her, searching, for something. It seemed to have found it because the crystal grew hot and suddenly went back to normal, except it was now a dull red.

Piper held her breath, glancing at Phoebe. "Feel any different?" Phoebe stood still, thinking about it. "No I feel the same as ever I think." She tossed the crystal onto the floor and shrugged, "Maybe whatever it was it was a dud."

Piper narrowed her eyes, "I dunno, maybe we should…" But whatever it was they should do they never found out. Smoke had begun forming in the corner of the room and the three girls turned to stare at it. "Do you think the demon is back again?" Melinda whispered, taking a small step back to stand with Piper. "Nah not him. He didn't bring smoke with him." She replied. Suddenly the smoke vanished and the person standing there was the last person they had ever expected to see. "Cole!" Phoebe shrieked.

Cole glanced around, looking a little lost. When his eyes fell on Phoebe they lit up with happiness. "Phoebe! How are you?" She took a step back. "Stay away from me. You're supposed to be dead!" His face fell. But Melinda ignored Phoebe, she couldn't believe it was really her uncle. "Cole!" she cried, in a totally different way then Phoebe had a minute ago. Melinda was thrilled to see him. She ran over and gave him a hug. "Melinda get away from him!" Phoebe said urgently. Melinda turned around with a frown. "Why?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

"Because he's evil!" Phoebe shouted. "He needs to be vanquished!" she headed to the attic for the vanquishing potion they had made a long time ago. "Woah!" Piper said, "Melinda, get him out of here before she does something stupid and then come right back. We need to find out what's going on before we vanquish Cole." Cole just stood there, stunned that Piper didn't want him dead. "Come on!" Melinda tugged his arm until he snapped back to reality. "Yeah ok." He said. Melinda held onto him tightly and orbed them both out of the room.

Piper sighed as she entered the attic where Phoebe was rummaging through the old trunk that contained all their magical items. "Phoebe.." Piper started, but Phoebe cut her off, "Aha!" she cried triumphantly. "I found it!" she held out a small vial containing a pink liquid. Piper knelt down next to her sister. "Sweetie why are you so keen to vanquish him?" she asked, trying to take the potion form Phoebe. Phoebe pulled it back out of her reach. "He's a demon Piper!"

"He's also your ex husband and Melinda's uncle. In-law." She added.

"Doesn't change anything!" Phoebe replied, getting to her feet. She had a determined look on her face. "I'm gonna kill him before he has the chance to hurt us. Again." She headed for the living room. Piper sighed again as she followed her sister out of the room.

Cole was being awfully quiet. He was looking around the mausoleum with a strange look on his face. "Cole what is it?" Melinda asked concerned.

He just shrugged, "I dunno. I guess it's just…weird. Being back here after so long." Melinda looked away and then suddenly turned back to him. "Speaking of which…" she took a seat on the floor against the wall and patted the ground next to her. Cole obediently sat down. "How _did_ you get back here? I mean… Phoebe's right. You died." She blinked back tears at the memory of it. Cole put a comforting arm around her and she leaned against him. "I don't know. I was dead, my demon half probably in the demonic wasteland and my human half floating around somewhere in spirit form."

"And then what?" Melinda prompted.

"And then…. I was here." He finished. Melinda looked at him not understanding. "I don't know how I got here. Maybe it was something you guys did. Like a spell gone wrong or something."

Melinda shook her head, "No we didn't perform any spells. There was a demon and we just…" she stopped, a sudden thought coming to her. "Something weird did happen though. The demon through a glowing pink crystal thing at Phoebe and then just shimmered out."

Cole frowned, deep in thought. "Pink glowing crystal hey? Could have been a wish crystal. That would explain a few things."

"What's a wish crystal?" Melinda asked curiously.

"When somebody holds it, it searches through their body and finds their deepest desire, the thing that somebody wants the most and makes it come true. They're very valuable. If a demon gave it to Phoebe it was because people's desires quite often become their downfall. They end up being killed over it 8 times out of 10."

"But you would never hurt Phoebe, would you?"

Cole gave Melinda a hurt look, "Of course not! This must be one of the 2 times out of 10."

"And if you came back to life when Phoebe held the wish crystal…"

"That means Phoebe wanted me more than anything else. She still loves me!" he jumped to his feet, "Come on we have to get back to her now!"

"Hold up!" Melinda said, also climbing to her feet. "She wants to vanquish your butt! You can't go back there yet. She thinks you are a demon who wants to kill her!"

"But I'm not a demon anymore!" Cole protested, "I'm fully mortal. Phoebe's wish must have been for only the human part of me coz I tried shimmering back to Phoebe just then and I couldn't do it."

"So you're fully mortal like Phoebe wants…"

"And we just need to prove it to her…"

"And I think I know just how to do it!" Melinda grinned. "Stay put, I'll be back shortly." Before Cole could protest Melinda had disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.

When Melinda orbed into the living room, the first thing she saw was Phoebe's hand raise in to the air, preparing to throw a potion. "Woah!" she cried, "I'm alone!" She lifted her hands to shield her face. Phoebe lowered the potion and glared at her niece. "Where is he?" she demanded. "Bring him back now or you're grounded!" Melinda rolled her eyes, "You can't ground me, I'm not your daughter!" Phoebe stamped her foot, "Melinda! Please bring him back I need to get rid of him before he hurts us!"

"He's not gonna hurt us!" Melinda insisted, facing her aunt as Piper's head flicked back and forth between them, as if watching a tennis match. "That thing the demon gave you was a wish crystal."

"What's a wish crystal?" Paige asked, walking into the room. Melinda smiled at her, "I'm glad you're here. Listen." She explained everything she and Cole had discovered, as well as filling Paige in on everything that had happened. "Jeez," Paige said, tossing her purse onto the couch, "You leave the house for five minutes and everyone goes nuts!" Melinda grinned at her. "Cole's mortal now. And I think I can prove it to you." She added to a disbelieving Phoebe. "Come on!" and she led the way up the stairs to the attic.

"I'm gonna use the Balthazar summoning spell. If Cole really is Balthazar, he'll appear before us." Paige nodded, "The girl is actually right! Seems like a good plan!" Melinda pulled a face at her, "You make it sound as though I'm never right!" Paige laughed, "Well you are just a kid…" she dodged the cushion thrown at her head. "A little concentration here guys!" Piper interrupted. "Right," Melinda said, returning to the podium that held the Halliwell book of shadows. "Here goes, is everyone ready?" they nodded and Melinda noticed that Phoebe gripped the potion in her hand tighter. She swallowed, hoping this would work. Melinda took a deep breath:

"Magic forces black and white,  
reaching out through space and light,  
be he far, or be he near,  
bring the demon Balthazar here."

The Charmed Ones waited anxiously but none were more nervous than Melinda. If Cole didn't get summoned here it would prove that he wasn't Balthazar as the spell was only to summon him, not his human half. If Cole did turn up… Melinda didn't want to think about it. They would have to vanquish her uncle all over again…


End file.
